The Myth of Creation in Reverse or the Disavowal of Genius in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

HyperCultura

卷:5

Adriana Carolina Bulz¹ 

[1] The Military Technical Academy, Bucharest;

关键词: disavowal;    psychoanalysis;    Romanticism;    Gothic;    responsibility;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

AbstractAccording to Freud, disavowal implies the denial of a frightening reality, a defense mechanism that is triggeredin the initial phase of psychosis. The term may also imply, like in the fiction I propose to analyze, a refusal toassume responsibility for the consequences of one’s deeds and, as such, it certainly leads to disastrousconsequences. If Mary Shelley’s novel was intended as a critique of Romantic self-indulgence and as a vision ofthe destructive implications of a creative mind, it is no less certain that the authoress intended to point out theinevitability of such a fate for the visionary who disconnects himself from reality in order to pursue the fantasyof omnipotence. In my paper, I intend to link several psychoanalytical concepts – such as the uncanny or thetheme of the double – to the development of Gothic fiction as a subgenre of Romanticism, while attempting apsychoanalytical re-reading of Victor Frankenstein’s actions and their terrible results.

【 授权许可】

Unknown